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(Telegraph) – A NEW OPINION POLL has shown the narrowing of the Tory lead over Labour – boosting the chances of Gordon Brown calling an earlier than expected general election to be held in April.

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph sees the Conservative lead narrowing since last month with David Cameron’s party down one point on 39 per cent, Labour unchanged on 30 per cent and the Liberal Democrats up two on 20 per cent.

If repeated in at the general election there would be a hung parliament, with the Tories around 14 seats short of a majority. It is the first ICM poll to put the party below 40 per cent since last June, when the party lost support in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal.

The results come as Mr Brown, buoyed by a narrowing of the Conservative lead in this and other surveys, weighs up going to the polls a few weeks earlier than the 6 May date which up to now has been virtually inked in as election day.

While it still remains the likeliest option, some senior Labour figures are advising the Prime Minister to act decisively and to wrong foot the Tories, with 15 April emerging as an alternative date.

This would see polling day take place a week before potentially politically hazardous growth figures are released which could see Britain tipping back into recession.

Central to the decision will be the date of the Budget. Currently the favoured plan of Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is to hold the Budget late in March – which would effectively make it certain the election would be on 6 May.

However, others close to Mr Brown want the Budget to be earlier in March, opening up an April poll as an option.

A third “nuclear” option is not to have a Budget at all – but simply to lay out Labour’s tax and spending plans at the start of the election campaign on a political platform, though this is seen as highly unlikely.

A senior source said: “There is a change inside No 10. It’s to do with polls going our way of course, and the general feeling that we are on the front foot at last and that the Tories are wobbling.

“May’s still the favourite but you certainly shouldn’t rule April out.”

Mr Brown said last week that Tony Blair would play a key role in Labour’s election campaign – despite fresh criticism of the former prime minister for sending British troops to war with Iraq in 2003, sparked by his testimony to the Chilcot Inquiry.

The ICM poll finds that 47 per cent of voters do not think Mr Blair should face war crimes charges over Iraq, while 38 per cent think he should.

ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1001 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 3rd-4th February 2010. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.